


Rebuilt Zen

by Ending_To_Begin



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Mostly Fluff, uh sorta shippy???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 08:02:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10692945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ending_To_Begin/pseuds/Ending_To_Begin
Summary: To be flawed is to Exist.





	Rebuilt Zen

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: My work is not beta-ed. 
> 
> I have not had the opportunity to play Overwatch.

Genji was always watching. 

He cared for his master, this much was true and expected, but it was more than that too. He had a fondness for the omnic that went beyond just master and student. He could never quite put his finger on it, or on why it was present, but as he had been taught, all things have their place and a reason for being there.

 

Today was another of those particular ones where the fondness popped up. No true prompt ever seemed necessary, it just was there as he watched his master fight.  Zenyatta seemed unsettled, but more determined than ever to win this bought, it left him feeling humbled as well as intrigued. Curious in a way he could not quite explain.

Not that he had any reason to complain, positive emotions and feelings were always encouraged and welcomed in his training, it was simply that he didn't know WHY of all times…

 

~

 

Zenyatta paused after their battle to gently pick a bit of the grime and dirt from his finger joints. An action that generally would not have made many people feel warm and fuzzy, but for some reason, the gestures captured and held Genji's attention like nothing else. The fond curiosity that had started earlier in the day only seemed to grow.

Deciding to indulge it, he approached, offering his own hand to help.

Zenyatta relinquished one of his arms to Genji openly, but with a simulated sigh the cyborg was unfamiliar with.

 

Curious.

 

For a time, Genji helped his master to gently dig the dirt from his joints, but eventually his curiosity bubbled up far enough it gave him initiative to speak.

 

“Zenyatta… are you alright?”

 

The hand he held between his own twitched ever so slightly and was followed by the same strange new sigh.

 

“In a way, yes, my student,” he said quietly. “But not to the extent I perhaps should be.”

 

Confused, Genji gentled his motions ever further, letting extra care bleed into his actions for reasons unbeknownst to him.

 

“The extent you should?”

 

“Perhaps..”

 

Zenyatta flicked a bit of the dirt from a joint in his other hand off to the side with a bit more force than necessary. It was a strange action, yet another unfamiliar ministration to Genji.

 

“Would you share your meaning, master? Perhaps I can help.”

 

The omnic shifted, his posture returning to more of a normal one.

 

“Ah, yes, you certainly are a bright pupil, Genji. More than I may have hoped for, had I been able to…”

 

Confused, Genji simply held his master's fingers in his own now, watching Zenyatta intently. He had never truly expressed bitterness before, not to Genji’s knowledge anyway. 

 

Another sigh came from the omnic, forlorn and a bit off.

 

“There are times, Genji, that even a master… even a being programmed a certain way will more or less move forward.. evolve and touch something even they find unpleasant. Even with all of the programming I have been bestowed, sometimes an extra idea pops up beyond what was  meant for me.

I feel… it is hard to say that I really do… but I have been confronted with my lack of humanity also.

I desire peace between the different entities of this planet in a way no omnic has previously, but it is not always enough to hold that desire. BEING what they are.. some will never want to listen. Some will always fight.

It is frustrating to know sometimes where peace would solve so much, I will never be enough. Knowing my programming will…  _ I _ will try anyway. It is…

Is it perhaps wrong to say 'it is in my nature,’ being ‘unnatural’ as I am?”

 

It was so easy to forget Zenyatta was different sometimes. He was more amazing than many beings Genji had encountered throughout his lifetime. He often simply put Zenyatta’s possible strangeness, and his own for feeling the way he did, aside because it simply did not matter the way their likenesses did.

He wondered... no, he  _ knew _ Zenyatta did the same for him. He knew better than perhaps any before him what Zenyatta felt and did without thinking, about the peace he exuded because that is all he desired for the world. His true desire. His ultimate goal- quite possibly improbable as a whole, but possible on a scale no other would or could accomplish.

Zenyatta was… he was amazing. Nothing but himself. More honest than any human perhaps could be. 

Perhaps it was a downfall, but it still helped to make  _ who _ he was.

 

“To be human is to be flawed.”

 

Zenyatta’s orbs spun, signifying his agreement.

 

“So they say, but the accurate version is, 'to exist is to be flawed. Not by our choice, but by design.’”

 

His master turned his head towards him, the motion curious.

 

Parting his faceplate, Genji allowed his master to read his facial expression- the softness of it, and the fondness too easily masked by rigid plating.

 

“You are flawed just as I, Zenyatta, but all the more you and alive for it. You may always default to a peaceful and calm demeanor, knowing things will turn out how they are meant to, as is the way of life, and you may never fully express a rage or distemperment akin to the likes of a human, but that is something right. Something I never hope to attain myself, but revel in in your presence, as you revel in what remains of my humanity just as much as my own programming.”

 

Zenyatta's orbs gave a curious spin as he considered Genji's words.

 

“You are more than perhaps what was intended when you were created… and that is also amazing. Another trait that has made the world a better place, if only one blip at a time. Is it not true that you would say the same of me?”

 

Zenyatta's hand turned to gently squeeze one of Genji's as they held it. A content hum sounded from the omnic. Genji closed his eyes, captured by the sensation as it rolled through Zenyatta down to his own hands.

 

Zenyatta chuckled. 

 

“Ah, so wise you are, Genji. There is much I still need to learn from you as well.”

 

Opening his eyes, Genji smiled back.

 

“And, yes, I do say the same of you. The reminder to apply such an ideology to myself is appreciated, my student.”

 

Letting the blooming fondness overtake him, Genji leaned forward to plant a kiss across Zenyatta's faceplate. The omnic warmed under his gesture and his orbs shifted to dance around them both.

Genji smiled, feeling just as accepted as Zenyatta no doubt did based on such a display.

 

The flower that suddenly burst and bloomed in Genji's chest was not alone, no matter what any other being ever believed or said. It had a matching counterpart in his closest friend. 

  
Omnic, human, cyborg, or otherwise… all were equals and all potential was limitless.

**Author's Note:**

> Like my works? Wanna drop me a line? Find me on Tumblr!!  
> ending-to-begin.tumblr.com
> 
> Wanna help me keep writing? Buy me a coffee!!
> 
> Ko-fi.com/endingtobegin


End file.
